Village firefighters to receive retroactive benefits

by ANDREA KIMBRIEL Reporter

The Village of Williamsville will be retroactively paying some firefighters for points accrued in active service over the past 16 years.

Since 1992, the Williamsville Fire Department has participated in the New York State Service Award Program that provides benefits for firefighters based on the number of points they gain over their years of active service.

The village and a number of other municipalities had not allowed firefighters to earn points after the entitlement age of 55.

"There were varying opinions on whether you should be able to accrue points after you started collecting," said village administrator Lynda Juul at the board meeting two weeks ago.

Trustee Brian Geary, liaison to the fire department, said the state requirements for the program were originally unclear.

"I've even looked at the formal state documents. There were a lot of gray areas," he said.

Court rulings determined that the post entitlement age active volunteer firefighters should continue to earn credit, said Geary.

The board passed a resolution Monday authorizing the payment of those benefits retroactively and in the future.

The retroactive liability costs are expected to be $96,000, and the estimated cost of the change in monthly payments should be $121,000, for a total of $217,000, Juul said. Those funds will be paid out of the village budget during a period of up to 10 years, said Geary. The Town of Amherst will be responsible for 56 percent of the cost.

"For what the fire department provides and does, over 10 years it is not that big an amount of money," said Geary. "They put their life and limb on the line. You can't thank the fire department enough."

The board also chose a period of significance for the Williamsville Water Mill and other structures on the historic property during the meeting. The period of significance will determine what restoration is appropriate for the site.

Two periods were suggested by the Restoration and Preservation subcommittee of the Mill Restoration Committee at the Feb. 25 meeting. The board approved the period of 1811-1827 through 1946, which Trustee Jeffrey Kingsley said was the recommendation of Bero Architecture, the company that prepared the historic structures report for the project.

Kingsley said the other option would have been more expensive and would have required that the main office be moved between the mill and "Red House."

"Logistically I think we'd have a very difficult time as far as parking," he said.

The restoration will not include a waterwheel, and the facade will be similar to what it looks like today, according to the presentation by the mill subcommittee.

Information on the period of significance will be posted on the village Web site at www.village. williamsville. ny. us.

In other matters, signs will be installed to prohibit left turns from the Walgreens parking lot at 5305 Main St., and the DiCamillo Bakery parking lot at 5329 Main St. The section from 5300 to 5330 Main St. has been the site of a number of accidents over the past few years, said Trustee Brian Kulpa.

According to information from the Amherst police, there were 14 accidents from January 2006 to December 2006, and 36 accidents from January 2007 to December 2007. There were also a number of accidents at the nearby intersection of Main Street and Union Road - 25 in 2006 and 46 in 2007, said Kulpa.